At the moment, there are tons of metrics shareholders can use to watch Mr. Market. A pair of the most underrated are hedge fund and insider trading movement. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the best investment managers can outperform their index-focused peers by a superb amount (see just how much).
Equally as important, bullish insider trading activity is another way to break down the investments you’re interested in. Obviously, there are a variety of motivations for a bullish insider to drop shares of his or her company, but only one, very clear reason why they would behave bullishly. Various empirical studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this tactic if investors know where to look (learn more here).
Consequently, we’re going to take a glance at the key action surrounding EXACT Sciences Corporation (NASDAQ:EXAS).
What does the smart money think about EXACT Sciences Corporation (NASDAQ:EXAS)?
At Q1’s end, a total of 12 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of 9% from one quarter earlier. With the smart money’s capital changing hands, there exists an “upper tier” of key hedge fund managers who were upping their holdings substantially.
According to our comprehensive database, OrbiMed Advisors, managed by Samuel Isaly, holds the most valuable position in EXACT Sciences Corporation (NASDAQ:EXAS). OrbiMed Advisors has a $36.6 million position in the stock, comprising 0.9% of its 13F portfolio. On OrbiMed Advisors’s heels is D. E. Shaw of D E Shaw, with a $21.5 million position; the fund has 0.1% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Remaining hedgies that are bullish include Joseph Edelman’s Perceptive Advisors, Mark Broach’s Manatuck Hill Partners and Jacob Gottlieb’s Visium Asset Management.
As aggregate interest increased, key hedge funds were leading the bulls’ herd. Millennium Management, managed by Israel Englander, created the largest position in EXACT Sciences Corporation (NASDAQ:EXAS). Millennium Management had 1.4 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Glenn Russell Dubin’s Highbridge Capital Management also made a $0.3 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are Matthew Tewksbury’s Stevens Capital Management, David Costen Haley’s HBK Investments, and Tom Russo’s Gardner Russo & Gardner.
How are insiders trading EXACT Sciences Corporation (NASDAQ:EXAS)?
Bullish insider trading is most useful when the primary stock in question has experienced transactions within the past 180 days. Over the last half-year time frame, EXACT Sciences Corporation (NASDAQ:EXAS) has experienced zero unique insiders buying, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
Let’s go over hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to EXACT Sciences Corporation (NASDAQ:EXAS). These stocks are Array Biopharma Inc (NASDAQ:ARRY), Cadence Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:CADX), Merrimack Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:MACK), Halozyme Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:HALO), and ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:ACAD). This group of stocks belong to the biotechnology industry and their market caps resemble EXAS’s market cap.
| Company Name | # of Hedge Funds | # of Insiders Buying | # of Insiders Selling |
| Array Biopharma Inc (NASDAQ:ARRY) | 20 | 0 | 0 |
| Cadence Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:CADX) | 0 | 1 | |
| Merrimack Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:MACK) | 6 | 3 | 2 |
| Halozyme Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:HALO) | 15 | 1 | 0 |
| ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:ACAD) | 10 | 1 | 4 |
With the returns demonstrated by our tactics, retail investors should always pay attention to hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and EXACT Sciences Corporation (NASDAQ:EXAS) applies perfectly to this mantra.
